A blog showcasing the characters, vehicles, items and pretty much anything else that involves Time Travel in DC comics.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Thoughts on Mayday in Spider-Verse

About how it ended with the star of Marvels' longest female solo series. Why Spider-Girl is harmed by this event.

SPOILERS AHEAD

It was bad enough that the story completely misses the point about Spider-Girl. That her father is killed and the writer had zero concept of her world (ex: MC2 had more spider related characters than May, Peter and her baby brother.) The ending has Mary Jane giving May her fathers' suit and proclaiming she's Spider-Woman now. No. First of all the series was ended for good because Marvel wanted to promote another Spider-Girl and get rid of all traces of the Parker marriage. Now they want to show that she's his daugther while erasing her identity. There are currently many Spider-Women, two that currently carry that name and have a series. Also taking away the Ben Reilly suit to make May wear Peters' is a HUGE slap to the face.

Ben Reilly was Mays' uncle Ben, she might not have known him but he had a profound effect on her life. He died saving her father the day she was born and in his dying moments asked Peter to tell her about him. The Parkers don't know it but Ben had a son who helped mentor May in the early days when everyone was against her being a hero. May has Bens' positive attitude and determination, a fact Peter has commented on. May took the suit to honor her uncle but also made it her own. She stepped out of her dads' shadow to do things her own way and has literally redeemed many of her enemies with her friendship. Not the brooding revenge girl she was throughout most of the event. Bens' memory also influences' Kaine in MC2, for a short while there was another Scarlet Spider and the family were almost duped into believing he had a daugther.

If you take Ben Reillys' importance out of Spider-Girl you don't understand the characters or the mythos that were set up. You certainly don't respect them. Fans of the Mayday series were looking forward to her finally meeting Ben and maybe the 616 Kaine too. We got nothing outside of her creators pointing out the connection and dealing with the main story hammering in Peters' uncle into her story. That Ben is important in Spider-Verse because he's important to Peter not May. Because in her series Ben Parker doesn't have nearly--if any--impact on who Mayday is. Ben Reilly and her namesake--May Reilly Parker--do. This is just insulting and puts May in Peters' shadow when she stepped out of it a long time ago.

I just hope the Spider-Verse team up story was only the start of ensuring this is a different Mayday.